A Santa Barbara, Calif., man hired volunteers to serve as Santa's helpers when a flood of wrong-numbers seeking the man in red poured into his business line.

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John Dickson registered 1-800-SANTABARBARA -- or 1-800-726-8222 -- for his Web site promoting attractions in the city and found when the holiday season hit that that number is only one digit away from 1-800-SANTACLAUS, 1-800-726-8225, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

Dickson hired about 100 volunteers and announced to media outlets that he was allowing jolly old St. Nick to use his 800 number for the season.

"Doing this is more important than my job," Dickson said. "Santa Claus is really a big deal -- a gigantic deal -- for these children."

The businessman said thousands of calls from children eager to get their wish lists to Santa have flooded in since the effort began last week. He said a rotating staff of Santa's helpers -- including Dickson himself -- have been fielding calls from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. in preparation for Kris Kringle's yearly world tour Monday night. He said the Santa hotline officially closes at 5 p.m. Monday.